McKinsey’s State of AI 2026 includes a statistic that should get our attention: 🛠️ 32% of respondents said their organizations decided against purchasing at least one software product or feature because they could build it internally using agentic coding tools. That is not a prediction. It is already happening. But here is an interesting question: Do you think these solutions are being built by formal IT departments—or by front-office professionals who understand the business problems? You may be surprised by the answer. Until recently, building software required a development team, significant capital, and months—or even years—of work. Agentic coding tools are changing that equation for both IT and the front office professional. For those of us in AI Bits & Pieces who are progressing beyond AI Enthusiast and are interested in becoming an AI Builder, learning this skill creates a significant career opportunity. Becoming a builder does not necessarily mean becoming a traditional software developer. It means learning how to use AI to: 🔹 Turn an idea into a working tool 🔹 Automate a business process 🔹 Connect systems and data 🔹 Build functionality a business might otherwise purchase 🔹 Solve a real problem and create measurable value These capabilities can help you advance your career, create new opportunities within your business, or begin building solutions for clients. The tools are lowering the technical barrier. What still matters is your ability to understand the problem, determine what should be built, and guide the solution toward a meaningful outcome. If you are interested in taking that next step, I invite you to be my special guest at the next AI for Life Weekly Live Session. 📣If you are interested in being one of my special guests at the next live session, comment “AI for Life” below or send me a direct message here in Skool: @Michael Wacht AI for Life is a community founded by @Matthew Sutherland on the Skool platform where I continue to hone my own low-code/no-code AI-building skills alongside others who are learning to build practical, real-world solutions to advance their career.

In the last lesson, used Copilot to improve an email we had already written. Now let’s make it even easier. This time, instead of starting with your own draft, you can open an email in Outlook, click Copilot, and ask it to draft a reply for you. That is a great next step because it shows how Copilot can work directly from the message in front of you. 🔁 Practice This Open a real email in Outlook that needs a reply. Then: - Click Copilot in the upper-right area - Open the Copilot side panel - Type a simple instruction like: Draft a reply That is it. You can also give it a little more direction if you want. 💬 Sample Prompt Use this as a starting point: Draft a reply to this email. - Keep it professional, clear, and concise. - Acknowledge the sender’s message, respond to the main point, and make the next step clear. - Do not add facts, promises, or commitments I did not provide. - Show me the draft for review before anything is sent. 🔍 What You Are Looking For Focus on three things: - Did it understand the email correctly? - Is the reply clear and easy to act on? - Does it sound like something you would actually send? If the tone is off, refine it. For example: Make this warmer and more conversational. Or: Shorten this and make it more direct. 📌 Note This is where Copilot starts to feel useful fast. You are not copying and pasting an email into another tool. You are working right inside Outlook, from the actual message thread. That makes it much easier to review, adjust, and move on. Remember - review before sending. Copilot can give you a strong starting point, but you are still responsible for the final message. 🔑 The Takeaway A very practical use of Microsoft Copilot is this: Open the email. Click Copilot. Ask it to draft the reply. Then review and refine. Simple. Fast. Useful.

Everything seems pretty easy when you're getting the first version together, but where does it start getting complicated or breaking down when you're trying to actually finish and launch it? I just want to know what to expect!

I’ve been working on something behind the scenes—and this time, it isn’t an AI experiment. Welcome to my new home studio. This will be the place where I research, write, record, test new tools, and create more practical content for the AI Bits & Pieces and AI Lone Wolf League communities. The room is still coming together, but the audio setup is ready: 🎧 beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro X Headphones (48 Ohm) 🎛️ Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 4th Gen USB-C Audio Interface 🎙️ Shure SM7dB Dynamic Vocal Microphone I wanted the studio to feel less like a traditional office and more like a place where ideas can develop—comfortable, personal, creative, and surrounded by a few things that matter to me. There is still more equipment to add, logos to showcase, and a cable or two to hide—but it is beginning to feel like home. More videos, lessons, conversations, and AI experiments are coming soon.

Does this exist, or does somebody want to build it? I have a watch later list I am never getting through. Health stuff, AI stuff, a few things I actually need to know. Some of them run 45 minutes for what is probably 3 minutes of real information, so they just sit there quietly making me feel behind. What I want is not a summary of what the person said. Plenty of tools do that, and I end up with a wall of text I also do not read. I want the actionable part. Do this. Stop doing that. Here is the one thing worth trying this week. The dream version looks like this: I follow a few channels New video drops and gets pulled automatically It comes back as a short markdown file with the takeaways and the steps I read it in two minutes instead of watching for forty Everything is searchable later, sitting in a folder Open source or cheap is fine. Self hosted would be a bonus. So two questions. Does something like this already exist and I just have not found it? And if it does not, is anyone here interested in building it? Feels small enough that somebody in this group could put it together in a weekend. Kind of funny that this community already does exactly this for AI. I just want it for everything else too.